Hillary Kinsey is studying international affairs. She spent three weeks in the Stellenbosch program.
HILLARY KINSEY: “It was interesting to learn the history of the area and the recent development with democracy and that sort of thing, and then talk to these people and see what the social dynamics were, what the ethnic divisions were, how certain groups felt about other groups.”
When Ms. Kinsey returned from South Africa recently, she and other students in the program created a nonprofit organization.
HILLARY KINSEY: "We called it Ubunto, which is a South African concept coined by Desmond Tutu, and it means 'I am because we are.' The idea is kind of based around relationships within society and what generates prosperity for the whole. And so we kind of took that notion and translate into a larger international community.”
She says the goal is to help improve education and development in South Africa.
Mark Lenhart is the executive director of CET Academic Programs. Each year, that company places more than one thousand students in semester and summer study programs. The programs are in China, Jordan, the Czech Republic and other countries.
MARK LENHART: "In all of our locations, we place students with local roommates."
Students gain from that, he says, but the experience is not always easy.
MARK LENHART: "Not just in terms of language learning, but they also find the local culture can present challenges, and perhaps misunderstandings. They have to adjust to local life. It's no longer OK just to have a little Chinese, for instance. If a student is studying Chinese, they want to come home from a program like this fluent in Chinese. And so this will enable students to become more employable when they graduate.”
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25